


When You Have Nothing

by dreaminginscenes



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Stardew Valley (Video Game), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Crossover, F/M, First Meetings, Meet-Cute, a silly little crossover for fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:15:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26187817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreaminginscenes/pseuds/dreaminginscenes
Summary: Eugene has left his life behind for an old family farm. His day is already bad enough when he meets his eccentric neighbor.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	When You Have Nothing

This was the stupidest thing he’d ever done.

Eugene dropped his head back against the wooden wall of the dilapidated shack he was now supposed to call “home.” He’d already managed to oversleep on his first day—although 7:30 hardly seemed like oversleeping. How was he supposed to manage an entire  _ farm?  _ Not that it was much of anything to look at as it was. It hadn’t been maintained in the last 25 years, so the local flora had created quite the miniature ecosystem on the expansive property. He hadn’t even seen much past the dried up plot right outside his door, but he figured the rest of the farm was equally disastrous.

Eugene glanced to the rusted tools propped up on the other side of the room. An axe, a hoe, a pickaxe and a scythe. Plus a dented watering can that looked barely functional enough for houseplants.  _ Ideal tools of the trade, _ he thought with a scowl.

What had possessed him to run off to this backwater valley in the first place? An inescapable criminal record? Dodging the law was starting to sound almost preferable to the nightmare that he’d chosen as his new career. Not to mention being constantly faced with the ghosts of his past. The portrait hanging over the crumbling fireplace had been turned around the moment he stepped into the small house. Yes, Eugene’s late father may have left him this place, but he didn’t owe anything to the deadbeat. 

Oh sure,  _ Edmund _ —Eugene made a point to never mentally refer to that man as “dad”—had vaguely mentioned how they needed to escape the valley after Eugene’s mother died, and told a sob story about having to give up infant Eugene to protect him. But Eugene didn’t have to sympathize with the man. For all the heartache Edmund put into that will, couldn’t he have made an effort to at least make his existence  _ known  _ to Eugene? It had taken all these years for the man to reach out and that was only to tell his son he was dying and leaving their old farm to him. Not money, not goods, not anything actually worthwhile. A 25-year-old, moldering, demolished  _ farm. _

Unfortunately, as of right now, it was the only thing Eugene had.

“I must be crazy,” Eugene mumbled as he hoisted himself from the rickety bed. He could sit around and mope all day, or he could go chop wood and break rocks with dull tools until he passed out from exhaustion. Quite honestly, option 2 was exceedingly preferable.

A tiny package on the pinewood table caught his eye. Oh how could he  _ forget  _ the generous gift from the mayor?  _ Parsnip seeds! Yay!  _ Eugene snatched the package and looked it over. Apparently, with proper soil preparation and daily watering, the vegetables would mature in about two weeks. Then, according to the mayor, he could drop off the parsnips to be sold and start making a profit.

Two weeks...that was a heckuva time to wait for a vegetable no one knew how to use. But there was no point griping anymore. At least he had  _ something  _ to start planting. And if he killed the parsnips, he doubted anyone would care. It wasn’t like there was anyone lining up to buy them and satisfy an undeniable craving.

He peered out the stained window to the bright, sunny day. It was still pretty early in the spring, so it was probably warm without being unbearable. His simple get-up of jeans and a tee-shirt would be fine to work in. Although it would still be a little too bright outside for his comfort. Eugene eyed the straw hat sitting next to where the parsnip seeds had been. It wasn’t exactly his style, but the wide-brimmed hat was better than nothing. Which is exactly what he had. Nothing.

Eugene groaned, donned the matronly hat, and gathered up his tools. He threw open the creaking door with a grumble, “Hi ho, off to work we go...”

Planting the parsnips was not nearly as simple as he had hoped it would be. He spent most of the morning clearing the patch closest to the house of weeds, rocks, and general woodland clutter. Then there was the matter of breaking up the dirt with the decaying hoe. After a good few hours and not much headway, he said  _ screw it  _ and threw aside the hoe. The six-foot patch was probably plenty for—what, fifteen seeds? How big could fifteen seeds get anyways? Thankfully, a little spit-of-a-pond sat close to where he’d been working, so filling the dinky watering can was the least of his worries.

Now he just had to worry about how to plant...anything.

Eugene kneeled on the ground in front of the awaiting soil, a single seed in hand. He only vaguely remembered the gardening lessons from kindergarten, and cell service was basically nil out here between the mountains, so forget googling anything that could help him. He figured the seed needed to be in the vicinity of soil and water but...anything else? There had to be something more to it, otherwise farming would consist of tossing seeds like confetti into the dirt and calling it quits. Maybe he could try that and just be done for the day.

The voice came without any warning, “HEY NEIGHBOR!!!”

_ “GAH!!!” _ Eugene nearly jumped a foot, dropping the tiny seed somewhere in the dirt. Not that he cared when his heart was going a  _ mile a minute.  _ Who in their right mind would sneak up on a person like that?!

He searched for the culprit, and easily spotted them. A young woman, short brunette hair bobbing with her folicking skip through the weeds, made her way up from the forest at the south end of the property. Judging by her paint-stained shorts and unnecessary suspenders, maybe she  _ wasn’t  _ in her right mind.

“Uhhh…” Eugene struggled to find words, but the sun and sweat seemed to have fried his verbal circuits.

She halted at the edge of the broken soil and cocked her head, letting her bright green eyes catch the afternoon light. “I said ‘hi there,’ got any response for me?”

“Um...hi?”

She dared to giggle at his confusion, “Hi again.”

There was significant pause that Eugene didn’t quite comprehend. What was she waiting for? A jolly little jig as he explained his life story through song?

“Well?” She broke the silence, “Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?”

_ She  _ wanted him to introduce himself? When she was the one that had nearly given him a heart attack running onto his property yelling at the top of her lungs? “I was...kind of waiting for you to do that.”

“Oh!” A tinge of pink colored her freckled cheeks. “I guess that makes more sense! I’m Rapunzel, you neighbor over that way.” She pointed down to the south where she had come from. “Or well... _ technically  _ that way,” she pointed east as well, “I also live in town with my parents. But I stay in my studio so much I might as well be living there.” She finished with another giggle that made Eugene question the full extent of her sanity.

“So,” Rapunzel gestured to him, “Nice to meet you…”

“Eugene,” he answered with some slight hesitation. “Eugene Fitzherbert.”

“Well nice to meet you, Eugene,” she replied. “You’re the new farmer?”

Eugene chuckled at the obviousness of that statement, “I hope so. Otherwise, I spent the night in the wrong house.”

Rapunzel laughed aloud at the joke—okay, maybe she wasn’t that annoying, Eugene thought with some amusement. She was quirky, but frankly he hadn’t talked to anyone except for a few pleasantries with the mayor the day before, and a little company wasn’t entirely unwanted. He decided to chase the bit of levity stirring in his gut; it felt better than the crushing despair of the last few weeks. “I dunno how much of a farmer I am, though. I seem to have only farmed debris so far. And a lot of blisters.”

To his significant surprise, Rapunzel darted to his side and grabbed his hands to examine the tell-tale blisters. “Hmm they don’t look particularly bad, so they should make some good callouses. Trust me, you’ll want them. Although you should get yourself some gloves. That’ll save you some pain. I’ll bring a pair by later for you.”

“Oh—um—thanks?” Her fingers were incredibly delicate over his tender skin—and that wasn’t such a bad thing, he realized with some heat creeping into his cheeks.

Eugene shook the thought from his mind. Good  _ grief _ , he honestly had a problem. All a cute girl had to do was give him a sideways glance and he felt the immediate need to charm and chase her. But that habit was going to stop cold-turkey now. It had gotten him in enough trouble back in the city as it was. Especially with a particular person that he didn’t need to relive.

A little hum from Rapunzel caught Eugene’s attention yet again. She dropped his hand to look out over the landscape. Her scrutinizing gaze actually caused Eugene to feel a flush of shame over the state of the farm. “Yeah it’s...not much look at.”

Rapunzel shook her head sadly, “I’ve heard the older people in town talk about this land a lot. Apparently whoever owned it before was pretty well-loved here. I guess there was some tragedy and they had to leave.”

Eugene’s breath hitched in his throat. “Tragedy?” Was she just playing oblivious? Did she really not know who he was in relation to the farm? Was  _ everyone  _ oblivious? The mayor had said nothing about it the day before, but Eugene had assumed the stoic man simply had nothing to say on the matter. 

Oh wait; how could he have forgotten?  _ Fitzherbert.  _ That wasn’t Edmund’s last name. Of  _ course  _ no one knew who he was! The residents of the sleepy town would remember the names Edmund and Horace, but Eugene Fitzherbert was a complete stranger to them. And frankly, it was better this way. The longer he could keep his identity secret, the longer his city-life past wouldn’t catch up with him.

“What kind of tragedy?” As long as he was lying low, maybe he could learn something from the people here about his unknown past. Edmund had, after all, not been terribly clear in the will as to why they even left the farm a quarter of a century ago.

Rapunzel shrugged, “Something about the wife. I dunno, no one will tell me.”

_ Dang it... _ Eugene grumbled internally. It seemed he’d have to work a little harder if he wanted to learn anything.

Rapunzel shifted herself to view Eugene’s current gardening handiwork —which he had almost forgotten about with her abrupt arrival. “So, whatcha planting?”

Eugene had never been much of one for small talk with strangers, especially strangers he was keeping a secret from, but he was oddly enjoying it at the moment. Wow, how lonely  _ was  _ he? As it was, he held up the tiny paper pouch of seeds for her to see, “Parsnips. But I don’t know why the mayor gave me these; no one eats these things.”

Rapunzel snatched the bag from his hand, brow furrowed, “Hold on, my dad gave you these? He  _ hates  _ parsnips! This must have been a joke gift from someone.”

“Wait, your dad is the mayor?! Why didn’t you mention that right off the bat?!”

“I dunno, I didn’t think it was important?!”

It was Eugene’s turn to laugh—which honestly felt amazing. The last time he’d had a good laugh was far too long ago. “Oh yeah, not important that you  _ dad  _ is the most influential person in town,  _ sure _ .”

Rapunzel rolled her eyes at his sarcasm. “Shut up, it’s not a big deal.” 

Eugene put his hands up in surrender, still grinning that his humor had gotten a reaction from her. “Okay, I concede.”

She shot him a look somewhere between a scowl and a smirk. “You’re going to be an interesting neighbor, it seems.”

“That makes two of us,” Eugene returned with the classic grin he had overused in his previous life.

“Well  _ anyways _ ,” Rapunzel exaggerated the word with a dramatic flair, “Back to the parsnips. Because the way you got this set up, you’re gonna get a bunch of knobby little bunches of inedible roots.”

“They’re already inedible.”

“Okay,  _ un-sellable _ roots.”

“ _ Now  _ you have my attention,” Eugene settled a little closer to the young woman to look over her shoulder, as she was already digging her fingers into the dirt. With the new closeness, the brim of his straw hat bonked the back of her head.

Rapunzel looked back to see the wide hat in her face, and poked the brim with her finger. “We also need to get you some better headwear. Such as,” She fished something from her pocket, “A headband!” She slipped the stretchy bright-patterned accessory over her hair, pushing back her sweeping bangs.

“A headband?” Eugene repeated, a bit incredulous, “Me?”

“Sure, it would help get that mop of hair out of your face,” Rapunzel dared to flick at his own bangs, sweaty as they were. 

“Mop of—excuse me, but my hair is not a  _ mop _ . I have some excellent locks.”

“Have you looked in a mirror today?”

Eugene playfully batted her hand away, not bothering to hide his grin. This girl really had very little concept of personal space, Eugene mused. He wasn’t a touchy person in the slightest, but her closeness was not making him nearly as uncomfortable as it normally would have.

Why was he kidding himself;  _ nothing _ was going to be the same as it was in his old life anymore. He was starting anew, and apparently, even his way of dealing with interpersonal relations was getting an overhaul. Starting with a neighbor who refused to leave him be.

“Anyways, back to parsnips,” Rapunzel refocused on the dirt at her knees and plucked a tiny seed from the package. “You need to make a little divot with your finger, about an inch deep, and then properly cover it with the dirt. Otherwise, it’ll dry out in the sun before it can root.”

“Ah,  _ that’s _ what I was doing wrong,” Eugene leaned over her shoulder a little more to get a better look, careful to push back his hat before it bumped her again. “I was wondering—”

Something sticky, wet, and warm suddenly shot into his inner ear, “GAH!!!” Eugene shrieked for the second time in the last ten minutes and reeled back.

A spot of green snickered on Rapunzel’s shoulder, “Pascal!” She chided the little monster. “That’s not how we greet new people!”

Eugene panted hard, trying to slow his breathing. “Wha—who—where did that come from?!”

“He likes to hide right behind my hair,” Rapunzel admitted with a roll of her eyes, “And then stick his tongue in anyone’s ear if they get a little too close to his personal space. I  _ told  _ you,” she said to the monster-reptile-thing, “It’s not fair when they don’t even know you’re there!”

“ _ Why _ do you keep a  _ frog _ on your shoulder?!”

The frog shot him a glare—if that was even possible. Eugene scrambled back a bit all the same.

“He’s not a frog,” Rapunzel corrected, “He’s a chameleon.”

“Whatever, nuance.” Eugene glared back at the frog, who actually  _ growled. _

Rapunzel set her hands on her hips, clearly a little perturbed, “No, there’s a  _ big _ difference. Frogs are amphibians, and Pascal, a chameleon, is a reptile.”

“I’m more of a dog person myself,” Eugene eyed the little green devil and he righted himself from the dirt. The frog—Pascal, apparently—stuck his tongue out with a little raspberry blow.

“Duly noted,” Rapunzel commented with a snicker. “Now if you two are done staring daggers, we need to get the rest of these seeds in the ground and water—” she reached for the watering can and stopped short. “Is this your watering can?!”

“Yeah?” Eugene scooted a titch closer, but kept enough distance between himself and Pascal’s reach.

“It looks like someone’s been kicking it against a brick wall for a decade.”

“Well, I found a raven stuck in it yesterday, so who knows what it’s been through.”

Rapunzel caught sight of the hoe discarded by the broken up patch of dirt, “Do  _ all  _ of your tools look this crappy? You’ll never make it far with that pile of rust.”

Eugene huffed the hair from his face, “Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“Okay, I better make a list of what I need to get you,” Rapunzel whipped out a pen from her pocket and started scribbling on her palm. “Gloves, headband, watering can, something besides parsnips…”

“Wait, what?” Eugene frantically waved his hands in dismissal, “No, I can do it myself, I don’t need—”

“Oh I’m sure you can,” Rapunzel glanced up from her palm with a sincere smile that crinkled the corner of her sun-kissed eyes, “But a little help from a friend is never a bad thing.”

_ A friend... _ That actually sounded...nice.

“I’ll talk with Xavier about getting you some better tools—although that conversation alone might take me a day and half,” Rapunzel grumbled the last part with a shake of her head before glancing at Eugene once again, a mischievous glint in her eye, “And I’ll see about scrounging up some razors to tame that facial hair of yours.”

Eugene’s hand flew to his stubbly cheeks, a blush spreading across them. He hadn’t bothered to shave this morning—he must have looked like a drunk or a caveman. “Oh um—I…”

Rapunzel only snickered and shoved the pen back in her pocket, then leapt to her feet. “Alright, I’ll be back later if I pick up some stuff for you. Oh! And maybe I’ll see if Ethel’s been baking today; she’s not a smiler but she makes the  _ best  _ cookies! Don’t forget,” She pointed back to the soil. “One inch and properly cover them. And don’t overwater, they’re just seeds. No need to drown them.”

“R—Right...thank you,” Eugene added as an afterthought as she started skipping off east toward town.

“Of course!” She turned back at the head of the path, face beaming. “Anything for a neighbor and a friend. Oh, and you said you’re a dog person?”

Eugene quirked an eyebrow, “Yeah?”

She shot him a wink, “I’ll keep that in mind if I run across a scruffy bundle of fur.” With that, she turned on her heel and disappeared through the trees.

Eugene’s gaze lingered where she had last been a moment longer. A warmth flooded his chest at the thought running through his head; he didn’t have nothing, so long as he had a friend.


End file.
